Redwood-Terra Linda: Tale of the tape

I just finished transcribing some of the postgame interviews from the Redwood-Terra Linda thriller and have come to this conclusion: Everybody was impressed with the five-receiver, zero-running back set that the Trojans unveiled, despite the fact Redwood won 28-14.

The numbers back up the decision. Chris Migdal, returning from a bout with mono, passed for 63 yards in the first quarter. Then, Dan Higgins entered and added 315 passing yards in quarters 2 through 4.
Among the comments:
–“It actually is fun to watch,” Redwood coach Jim Nelson said. “It is fun. They’ve got a couple of linemen out, a couple of quarterbacks out, and they did a great job.”
–“The quarterbacks did a nice job, the receivers did a good job and the offensive line gave them time to throw,” TL coach Tim Bosque said. “We did a great job except for three huge plays (on defense). But that’s football. The games are determined on half a dozen played. They had three big ones.”
“We did a lot of things better. We tried to do things a little differently but it wasn’t quite enough. I thought our kids played well, played hard. I’m proud of that. The last two weeks we rolled over and played dead.”
–“It’s a fun offense to run,” Higgins said. “A lot of passing, you get a chance to run around and make big plays. Everything on offense seemed to click today. Everyone was blocking, everyone was running quick, crisp routes and making plays. We didn’t come out on top, but we played a solid game all around.”
–“We just put that offense in on Tuesday,” Migdal said. “And it works pretty good. We still have to learn the ins and outs of it — add a few more plays. We made an extreme leap since our MC and Novato games. It was just two different teams. We’re ready to finish off the season strong.”

Redwood coach Jim Nelson said he was joking when he told running back Joe Klemme before the game that he saw him gaining 300 yards against TL. But with a 23-yard burst up the middle on the final play of the game, Klemme boosted his total to 303 yards in 19 carries.
Said Klemme, “He told me he thought I had a 300-yard game in me. And he was kind of joking about it. I took it seriously. My line did its thing, opened up a lot of really big holes. I just tried to lower my shoulders and run hard and get to the outside. And it worked out.”

Migdal sported his No. 11 jersey in the first quarter, but it was Casey Maloney who donned that number in the second half after Maloney’s No. 10 jersey was shredded during the first half.

Maloney finished with nine catches for 177 yards, including a 63-yard catch and run, but it was Redwood tight end Nick King who had the game’s longest reception. King got behind the secondary and turned a first-quarter pass from Ryan Russell into a 78-yard scoring play. “He’s faster than he looks,” Klemme said of the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder.

Redwood finished with 10 penalties for 91 yards, including an illegal-block infraction that negated an interception return for a touchdown by Andrew O’Dorisio. Terra Linda was flagged seven times for 70 yards.

Though overshadowed by Terra Linda’s passing duo, Redwood’s Ryan Russell was more than adequate in the victory, completing 17 of 27 passes for 244 yards and also rushing five times for 33 yards. With 0:46 remaining before halftime, he drove Redwood from its own 20 to the TL 6, completing 5 of 7 throws for all 74 yards. Unfortunately for Redwood, the half ended before they could reach the end zone.

Next up for Redwood: MCAL kings Novato
“We think we can do a lot of good things against them,” Klemme said. “They’re a great team. We have to play a lot harder than we played today. Just on both sides of the ball we have to play a lot better if we want to try to compete with them.”
“We’ve got some things to do,” Nelson said. “Some things to work on. But we’ll be all right. We’ll be all right.”

Next up for Terra Linda: Resurgent Tam, for Terra Linda’s homecoming
“We are making a lot of progress. We’ll come to play,” Casey Maloney said.
“They’re playing tough,” Bosque said. “We’ve got to come out with a little more fire but we’ve got to finish games, that’s all.”